Dragon (2011/Anchor Bay Blu-ray)

 

Picture: A+     Sound: B+     Extras: C     Film: B+

 

 

Jin-xi is your everyday simple village craftsman, that us until two vicious killers/thieves arrives to rob the village general store and not only saves the shop and shopkeeper but ends up defeating the two killers.  While he says it was pure luck, Detective Bai-jiu is not as convinced; he believes Jin-xi is actually is a martial arts master hiding in the village, and that he has some hidden past.  Convinced he is a former killer, Bai-jiu launches an investigation, which unfortunately that attracts and leads others to discover Jin-xi's past and current location.... and brings the 72 Demons in Peter Chan’s Dragon.

 

Jin-xi was a former 'garbage-man' for the underworld.  After seeing enough bloodshed, he quit ten years ago living a normal life and starting a family, but when two ruffians enter town, he is forced to use his form trade skills to stop a crime. And when the local magistrate/detective feels like Jin-xi is hiding more that he says, he doesn't believe a former killer can be reformed and has plans to collect evidence to arrest Jin-xi and Jin-xi has larger problems when his former syndicate which he belonged to comes looking for him.  Can a tiger change his stripes just as a man change his past?  Is Jin-xi truly reformed, or is he just denying his true nature?

 

This is another Donnie Yen-lead star film, like IP Man it is filled with martial arts and stylized fighting. What is unique is the detective character, he is able to reconstruct the crime by looking at the crime scene, sort of like how the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes see and then reconstruct what happened at a crime scene.  At first, the film was almost comical, but then its tone became even more serious in the second half of the movie.  It went from fooling the detective, to man fighting home and family.  And like all typical mafia stories, man who tries to leave the syndicate, he usually has to fight the entire mafia if he wishes to leave.  

 

Shot in the Super 35mm format in the latest Kodak Vision 3 film stocks, the 1080p 2.35 X 1 image is terrific throughout with all kinds of fine shots, demo images and is one of the bets-looking Blu-rays now on the market, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) Mandarin lossless 5.1 mix is just fine with a full soundfield al the way.  Extras include making of the movie featurette, featurette with Donnie Yen, music video and trailers.

 

 

-   Ricky Chiang